Second chance
by MysticFantasy
Summary: Four brother's became three. But have they really?
1. Chapter 1

**Second chance**

**By: MysticFantasy**

Disclaimer: (_I own no part of this movie or the characters in it._)

A/N:_ The moments_ _between the scene of Green talking to the brother's after the shootout and the final fight never happened in order for this story to work._

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The three Mercer brother's laughed to themselves after hearing they each told the same story of sleeping with the cops wives.

"Mercer, we just got a call for you." The officer said handing the three their belongings. "You need to go down to Henry Ford Hospital right away."

"Why?" Jerry asked confused.

"It's about your other brother. The one that got shot." the officer answered casually.

"Jack?" Bobby asked softly as pain and sorrow slowly crept into him. For a moment he had forgotten the pain he'd felt of loosing his baby brother but now it was all coming back to him.

"Yea. They need you to sign some forms concerning his surgery."

"Surgery?" Angel repeated confused. "What are you talking about?"

"They didn't tell you when you were being questioned?" The officer replied looking equally confused.

"Tell us what?" Bobby demanded yanking his beanie on his head.

"Your brother Jack isn't dead. He got out of surgery about an hour ago."

At that moment, everything around the three Mercer brother's seemed to freeze. Like time somehow had paused and everything was at a stand still in order for them to absorb the information that was just given to them.

Could it be possible that their baby brother was really alive?

"Talk!" Bobby barked suddenly jumping forward and grabbing the officer by the front of his uniform.

"He's alive." The officer gasped fighting to get free but failing. "When the ambulance started to take his body to the morgue they found out he was still alive. Just stunned or something. They got him to the hospital and they performed an emergency surgery. He's alive."

Bobby let go of the officer's uniform before giving him a warning look. "If you're pulling my chain, I'll be back."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**By: MysticFantasy**

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"Mercer." Bobby repeated. "His name is Jack Mercer."

"Down the hall." The receptionist answered. "Room 447."

Without hesitating, the three hurried down the hall looking at each door trying to find the one with the numbers they were told.

"There." Jerry called pointing to a door.

They hurried over and Bobby grabbed hold of the door handle. He looked to the other two who nodded. He nodded back and opened the door. They walked in and saw the person in the bed leaning against the reclined bed watching the tv without much interest.

The person looked over to them curiously then smiled.

"Hey guys." Jack greeted quietly.

"Jack!" Bobby dropped his jacket and practically ran over to his brother's bedside and embraced his once thought to be dead baby brother.

"Shoulder. Shoulder." Jack exclaimed.

"I'm sorry Jack. Are you ok?" Bobby said quickly pulling back with concern heavy in his voice and expression.

"I'm fine." Jack answered lightly rubbing his injured shoulder. "Meds wore off is all."

Bobby weakly smiled before embracing his baby brother again. Making sure not to hurt his shoulder but making sure that Jack could feel his emotions from the thought that they believed he was gone only for him to be alive again.

"Jack, how is this...I mean...we thought..." Jerry stammered walking over, unable to take his eyes off his youngest brother.

"I'm not totally sure myself Jerry." Jack answered recieving a hug from him. "The last thing I remember is being on that street corner looking up at you guys, everything goes dark and then I'm waking up in this room with a doctor trying to get me to come to."

Angel hugged Jack deeply and lightly messed up his hair when he pulled back, careful to avoid the nasal tube that was on his brother.

"Had to be mom." Jack lightly declared. "That's the only thing I can think of on why I made it."

"Probably." Bobby quietly agreed. "Either way, we're just glad that you're still here Jackie. We weren't ready to lose you. Not ready to lose our baby brother."

"And I wasn't ready to leave the only real family I've ever had." Jack replied with a small smile. "Didn't want to leave my big brother's."

"Good. We can stay the four Mercer brothers." Bobby said.

"So where were you guys all this time?"

"Taking care of some business, knocking down a few low lifes, getting questioned at the police station...The usual Jackie." Bobby answered.

"That why you have a black eye?"

"It's a love tap. Cops can't hit worth a s**t."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**By: MysticFantasy**

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"How you feeling Jackie?" Jerry asked walking into the hospital room to see his youngest brother reclining against the elevated matress while nursing a cup of chocolate pudding and Bobby sitting in the chair next to the bed looking at the tv that was showing a hockey game.

"A lot better." Jack answered before another spoonful of pudding.

"That's good to hear." Jerry mused. "The doctor come by yet?"

"No." Bobby answered keeping his eyes on the tv. "He doesn't show up soon I'm gonna hunt him down."

"Knowing you, you'll skin him too." Jack said using his plastic spoon to scoop up the last of the pudding in the cup.

"You know too much Cracker Jack." Bobby joked with a grin and ruffled his brother's hair.

Jack lightly chuckled and finished his snack. Bobby right away grabbed the empty cup and tossed it in the trash.

"How do you expect my arm to get better if you keep doing stuff for me?" Jack asked.

"Hey, as long as your butt is in that bed this is going to keep happening. When the doctor says you're back to one hundred percent then you can go back to playing that fairy music and being the chef again."

"You're too considerate." Jack said with a smirk.

"I know. I need to stop." Bobby replied.

Jerry smiled, glad that Jack was getting better and they were all even closer than before. He was still having trouble getting over the fact that they thought he had been dead. It had been such a horrible pain to handle and a huge empty feeling had appeared within him.

The second oldest brother was glad to know that the emptiness inside him had vanished when they saw that Jack was still alive.

"Hey guys."

Jerry looked to the door to see Angel quickly walk in and shut the door.

"What's going on Angel?" Bobby asked seeing his brother's odd behavior.

"The last stuff with the house is done but check this out." Angel replied handing Bobby a newspaper.

Bobby looked at the front page and saw the headline.

"Mercer household suffers damage and casualties." he read outloud gaining everyone's full attention. "Early Saturday afternoon the household of famous social worker Evelyn Mercer was found under ruthless fire from unknown gang members. The four adopted sons of Evelyn Mercer were inside the house during the time of attack and were caught off guard. The youngest of the brothers, Jackson Mercer, died from serious gunshot wounds and heavy loss of blood only moments after the attack ended. The remaining Mercer sons were found to be in self defense while identities of several of the gang shooters were discovered which gave police a lead to who ordered the attack. Gang leader Victor Sweet was now on the police wanted list when he mysteriously vanished, leaving authorities to suspect and question remaining Mercer sons. So far, the case has come to a sudden dead end. Leaving police and other authorities to call the case to a halt until further leads surface. Funeral notice for Jackson Mercer has yet to be released."

"When was the last time we were on the front page?" Angel lightly joked.

"Been a while. That's for sure." Bobby answered reading the rest of the article.

"Public articles can never get more than two things straight." Jerry declared lightly.

"No kidding." Jack agreed. "They forgot to mention that I came back from the dead as a flesh eatting zombie that can still breath."

"Forget them Jackie." Bobby said. "Pretty sure that someone else is gonna want to hear our point of view about this and then everyone will know that you're still kickin'."

"Doesn't really matter to me." Jack replied. "I don't really have any friends here anyway."

"Sure you do. You have your fairy fan club. You know. All those guys that chase you around asking you to marry them." Bobby declared.

"F***er." Jack chuckled lightly swatting his arm at Bobby.

"Besides, it doesn't matter what other people think. We know that you're still here and that's all that matters." Jerry added lightly ruffling Jack's hair.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**By: MysticFantasy**

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"When do I get to go home? This place is driving me crazy." Jack exclaimed dramatically.

"Relax Cracker Jack." Jerry said straightening his brother's blanket. "You've only got a week of physical therapy left and then they'll let you know if you can come home."

"Nothing to get your panties wet about ya fairy." Bobby added as he fluffed Jack's pillow.

"Forget you guys." Jack pouted.

"Calm down Jackie." Bobby said placing a gentle hand on his brother's shoulder. "We know you wanna get outta here but we gotta make sure that you're ok first. Just hang in there a little longer."

"Ok." Jack sighed leaning back on his pillows.

"Hey, I'll go down to the cafeteria and bring you something to snack on. How's that sound?" Bobby offered.

"Ok." Jack answered.

"Alright. I'll be right back."

Jack watched as his oldest brother walked out of the room with the door closing behind him.

"Here Jack. Pick something to watch." Jerry said handing his baby brother the remote control.

"There's nothing good on." Jack replied.

"You're just depressed today aren't you?" Jerry asked.

"Guess the cabin fever is starting to get to me." Jack replied letting the remote just slip from his hand and onto the bed next to his leg. "That and knowing what I did to get myself in this situation."

"Jack, don't you even start blaming yourself. We all know that it's _my_ fault that all of this happened." Jerry said.

"Jerry, I got hit in the face with a snowball, chased after the guy and got shot. Tell me that I couldn't have done otherwise." Jack stated.

"Maybe, but you didn't know what was going to happen. So you can't blame yourself. But what did that guy do to get you so p***ed off?"

"He called mom a wh**e." Jack answered a bit angrily.

"Now I know you can't blame yourself." Jerry stated. "Me, Angel and especially Bobby would have done the exact same thing."

"Yeah but Bobby and Angel would have shot him and gone back inside and you would have been smart enough to know that something was going to happen. Me? I was dumb enough to fall for it."

"Jack, stop it." Jerry lightly scolded. "You just got upset that someone said that about mom and you were gonna set 'em straight. We would have done the same if it were one of us. Don't put yourself through this. You'll just stress yourself out and get sick."

"I know." Jack muttered quietly.

"Good. We don't need you getting sick." Jerry said. "We're not showing it very much but we're all really worried about you. Bobby the most since you were calling for him when it happened. When we found out you were still alive he nearly attacked a cop to make sure he was telling the truth."

"That's Bobby." Jack mused lightly.

"Yep. So please don't stress yourself, don't get sick. We want you to come home as soon as possible too."

"Ok. I promise." Jack said with a small smile as the door opened and Bobby walked in with a small container.

"Got you some ice cream Jackie. Sorry. They didn't have those little rainbow sprinkles you love so much." he said handing his youngest brother the ice cream and a plastic spoon.

"Thanks Bobby." Jack said sincerely.

"Ok. He's not arguing the gay thing. What'd I miss?"

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"Jackie, you asleep?"

"Not yet. Why?"

"Just checkin'."

Jack opened his eyes to look at his brother who sat on the chair next to him.

"How come you haven't gone home yet?" he asked. "I know that you're tired."

"I am but my first concern is you." Bobby answered. "You can't see it Jack but you look like a wreck. You've got these big bags under your eyes, you've gotten a little paler and it's easy to tell that you've lost weight. As if you weren't skinny enough already."

"I'm pale because I don't get any sun, I lost weight because the food is fake and I got bags because I don't get much sleep."

"Why don't you get enough sleep?" Bobby asked.

Jack sighed.

"I get nightmares about what happened." he answere quietly. "I keep dreaming that I really didn't make it...and that I see you guys standing in front of my headstone."

"Jack..." Bobby whispered. He had no idea that Jack had been having those kind of nightmares. He hadn't even known Jack was have the nightmares to begin with.

"Just when you guys are gonna walk away from my grave, I wake up and realize that it was all just a nightmare. But I'm always alone when it happens. You guys aren't here when I wake up and then I think that no one did tell you that I was still alive and that I'm alone. Just like I was before mom adopted me."

"Shh." Bobby hushed as he adjusted himself to sit on the bed and bring his brother into a close embrace.

He felt Jack's arms wrap around him tightly and felt the dampness of tears soaking into his shirt.

"Don't worry Jack." Bobby whispered. "You'll never be alone again. I promise. I'll be right here with you the whole time. Don't cry. It's ok."

_Is it really? _his mind asked him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**By: MysticFantasy**

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Bobby lightly shivered when he watched the nurse pull the gigantic IV needle out of Jack's hand. He'd never been fond of needles and seeing the one that had been in Jack at its full size just freaked him out.

Jack on the other hand was perfectly calm. Didn't flinch or anything.

_Then again,_ Bobby thought to himself. _Jack's had more trips to the hospital than me. Guess he's use to it_.

The nurse placed a small piece of gauze over the whole in Jack's hand and kept it in place with a small piece of surgical tape.

"That's the last one." The nurse mused as she collected the small amount of trash. "You can go ahead and change. The doctor will be here in a few minutes and he'll go over everything left with you."

The nurse left and Bobby locked the door to make sure no one else walked in.

"Ready to get into your own clothes?" he asked as he picked up a small black duffle bag.

"Yea but I don't wanna move." Jack answered with a small smirk.

"Still sore?"

"Very."

"Well, you can stay in those clothes if you want Jackie but personally I don't think bright green is your color. Guess I'm use to seeing you wear black and pink all the time."

"Screw you." Jack said sitting up so he could go ahead and change.

"Jack, say that to women. Not your big brother." Bobby said with a grin as he opened the bag and pulled out a change of clothing. "Lift 'em up."

Slowly, Jack raised his arms and Bobby carefully pulled off the soft green short sleeved hospital shirt. He frowned when he saw the bandaging over Jack's right shoulder but quickly averted his eyes before Jack noticed.

"Here. I brought one of my button up shirts." Bobby said pulling out a black and grey flannel shirt.

"Thanks man." Jack said as Bobby helped him slip the shirt on.

"Yeah well, I could have been a jerk and brought one of those tight a** blouses you always wear but I thought I'd cut you some slack for a while." Bobby said with a smirk as he buttoned the shirt.

"You never cease to amaze me with how kind and gentle you are to me." Jack said sarcastically.

Bobby chuckled and ruffled Jack's hair before pulling out a pair of black warm-ups.

Jack carefully slipped off the light green warm-ups the hospital gave him. Bobby only slipped the black warm-ups to his knees and claimed that any further and he would be considered a fairy. He then placed socks on Jack's feet before stating that they were done and allowed Jack to lie back and relax.

"Alright Jackie. Just relax and wait for the doctor to get here." Bobby said unlocking the door.

"No problem. You suck at helping people change." Jack said with a grin.

"Hey, you're the one who had to get half naked in front of me."

"Like I had much of a choice." Jack replied with a grin. "I don't wanna stay in those clothes. They're green."

"You're such a fairy." Bobby laughed.

"And you're the best big brother in the world." Jack said half sarcastically.

"You know it Cracker Jack." Bobby agreed.

The door to the room opened and in walked a doctor and an orderly with a wheelchair.

"So Jack, ready to head home?"

"Sure am." Jack answered sitting up.

"I can understand. But we just need to go over a few things and then you'll be able to go home." the doctor said.

Bobby could tell that Jack was only half paying attention to the doctor and he was too. But they heard the important things and that was pretty much all they needed to hear.

When all of the final paper work was done, the orderly helped Jack into the wheelchair. Bobby placed his thick winter coat over his younger brother and they were finally on their way out of the hospital.

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"What do you want to do when we get home Jackie?" Bobby asked driving down the street.

"Take hot shower, get into my own clothes and then take a long nap." Jack answered.

"Sounds like a plan." Bobby said with a smile. "I might have to steal that plan from you Cracker Jack."

"As long as I get the shower first." Jack chuckled.

"As long as Angel or Loco Ono didn't use all the hot water." Bobby stated bringing the car into the driveway behind the house.

"Man, neither one of them better not have used all the hot water." Jack declared. "I need to get the smell of the hospital off me."

"No argument." Bobby chuckled cutting the engine. He climbed out, grabbed the duffle bag from the backseat and helped his brother climb out of the car right as Angel and Sofi rushed out from the backdoor.

"Welcome home Jack." Sofi greeted happily as she hugged the youngest brother.

"Thanks Sofi." Jack said with a small smile.

"What about me?" Bobby asked. Jack and Angel knew that their oldest brother was already gonna start a fight with Sofi.

"Don't start Bobby. I'll lock you outside all day if you get started." Sofi warned.

"Hey, I'm helping Jack in. You lock me out you lock him out too." Bobby replied.

"Angel, help Jackie please. I need to let Bobby freeze to death."

"Hey, I'm stayin' outta this one." Angel said.

"Get out of the way chica. Jackie needs to get out of the cold." Bobby said helping Jack walk toward the backdoor.

"Yep. I'm definatly back home." Jack declared as they walked up the porch.

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Jack sighed in relaxation as he leaned back against the wall of the tub. He was glad to have a little time to himself. Bobby was on him more than the nurses and doctors had been about moving around on his own.

He was lucky to have gotten Bobby and Angel to agree to let him have time to take a long soak in the tub. He carefully cleaned his body, slightly wincing when the water and soap ran over his shoulder wound but the pain quickly faded away.

He washed his hair and ducked under water to rinse the shampoo and conditioiner out. Once his hair was clean he just relaxed and allowed the hot water to sooth his muscles. His legs were sore from the physical therapy he was taking and each time he finished the workouts he felt like he had run a country mile.

After ten minutes Jack noticed his skin was starting to prune. He unplugged the tub and climbed out. He dried himself and slipped into a pair of boxers and shorts.

_Knock, knock, knock._

"Jackie? You done?" Bobby's voice asked through the door.

"Yeah." Jack answered as he combed his hair.

The door opened and Bobby walked in.

"Feel better." The oldest asked as he brought out the bag of supplies the hospital had given him when Jack was checked out.

"Much better." Jack answered as he limped out of the bathroom and to his own room where he slowly sat himself on the bed.

"You look like you're getting better." Bobby said kneeling next to the bed and started pulling out the things he needed.

"I think so too. I just feel like I get my a** kicked everytime I get out therapy." Jack agreed.

"That's suppose to be my job." Bobby said with a grin as he placed some ointment on a piece of gauze.

"No kidding." Jack agreed and watched as his brother bandaged his knees and then his shoulder.

"These are healing up real good." Bobby said as he cut the bandage and kept it in place with surgical tape.

"They don't hurt as much either." Jack added and caught the shirt Bobby tossed him.

"That's good." Bobby said putting all of the things back in the small bag. "You want something to eat or do you wanna get some sleep?"

"I'm tired. I think I'll just get a little sleep and eat when I wake up." Jack answered.

"Alright Jackie. We'll order some pizza when you get up. Sleep as long as you want. Alright?"

"Ok." Jack answered lying down and allowing Bobby to cover him with the comforter.

"Get some sleep ya fairy." Bobby said with a smile as he ruffled Jack's damp hair.

"Jerk." Jack chuckled watching Bobby leave and closing the door halfway.

The youngest brother lightly sighed in relaxation. It felt so good to be lying in his own bed again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**By: MysticFantasy**

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"Here you go Jackie." Bobby said handing his brother a paper plate holding two slices of pizza.

"Thanks Bobby." Jack said taking the plate and sitting back in the couch.

"Yeah. Just don't get use to this waiting on you hand and foot stuff." Bobby warned with a grin as he sat down next to his brother with his own plate holding four slices of pizza.

"D**n it." Jack playfully cursed. "Well, at least I'll have a few weeks of it until I'm cleared."

"Great." Bobby said sarcastically with a smirk.

Jack chuckled and began to eat his lunch. It wasn't until he came home and had gotten into his own cothing that he realized he lost weight from being in the hospital. Must have been about seven or eight pounds that he lost.

Bobby had been teasing him a little about it. Saying that now it was going to take twice as long to put some muscle on his little brother.

Jack would just laugh and play along. He'd never had a metabolism like any of his brother's. His was quick and he hadn't really been able to gain weight as easily because of it. But after seeing how easily Bobby and Angel put on weight he was sometimes glad that he was so thin. Although he would admit that he might be a little too thin for his age and size.

"Eat up Jackie. You're already as thin as you can possibly get. Don't need you disappearing on me cause you're thinner than a freakin' needle."

"Jealous." Jack said with a grin.

"Whatever you fairy. Now eat up." Bobby declared putting another slice on Jack's plate. "It's gonna take forever to get some meat on you. Gonna have to make you eat six or seven times a day from now on."

"Like I can eat that much." Jack replied starting on his first slice. "You and Angel can but not me." he added around a mouthful.

"Yeah, you're probably right about that." Bobby agreed with a shrug starting on his second slice. "Guess I'm just gonna have to take you to the gym and make you workout to get some muscle. Seriously baby brother you weigh maybe eighty or ninty pounds. Gonna have to put rocks or something in your pockets to keep you from falling over when the wind hits ya."

"A**hole." Jack said through a grin.

The two laughed for a few moments and then continued with their lunch. After a few moments, they were done and Bobby spoke again.

"This brings back memories Jackie." He said putting an arm around Jack's shoulders. "Thank God that we can keep making memories with you here. I almost lost my f***ing mind thinking you were...you know."

Jack lightly nodded.

"I'm really happy you're still here Jack. I am." Bobby said honestly.

Jack smiled at his brother.

"Me too Bobby."


End file.
